The Mind within the Brain

How We Make Decisions and How those Decisions Go Wrong

A. David Redish

Synthesis of decades of decision-systems work from varied fields: robotics, computational analysis, learning theory, and neuroscience

A new unified theory of the multi-dimensional mammalian decision-making system, describing its vulnerabilities and "failure modes"

A new view of decision-making failures--consequences of breakdowns in the decision-making system

Offers fresh insight into one of the most complex aspects of human behavior

The Mind within the Brain

How We Make Decisions and How those Decisions Go Wrong

A. David Redish

Description

In The Mind within the Brain, David Redish brings together cutting edge research in psychology, robotics, economics, neuroscience, and the new fields of neuroeconomics and computational psychiatry, to offer a unified theory of human decision-making. Most importantly, Redish shows how vulnerabilities, or "failure-modes," in the decision-making system can lead to serious dysfunctions, such as irrational behavior, addictions, problem gambling, and PTSD.

Told with verve and humor in an easily readable style, Redish makes these difficult concepts understandable. Ranging widely from the surprising roles of emotion, habit, and narrative in decision-making, to the larger philosophical questions of how mind and brain are related, what makes us human, the nature of morality, free will, and the conundrum of robotics and consciousness, The Mind within the Brain offers fresh insight into one of the most complex aspects of human behavior.